For a moment, I even considered heading over to the main house to dress in peace...but alphas never turned tail and ran. And as much as I thought that the other pack leaders' macho games of oneupmanship were annoying and childish, I was the one who had chosen to take my place in my father's world. Which meant playing by the other alphas' rules.
Plus, I would definitely prefer that this stranger's first impression of me came from the front...rather than having him catch a glimpse of my naked bum rounding the bend as I scampered out of sight.
So I ignored my nerves, attempted to channel my father's arrogance, and strode into the pool house as if I owned the place. Which I guess I did...for the moment, and assuming that my father didn't opt to take it all back tomorrow.
"Greetings," I offered into the room's echoing silence. I'd managed to catch the visiting alpha off guard, so a tall, broad back was all that met my eye. Taking advantage of the delay, I savored the visitor's scent, which was significantly stronger now that we were both present in the same room. Stronger...and oh-so-much like Wolfie's. Pine needles and leaf mold and that barely discernible hint of alpha-male dominance.
But, despite their similarities, I could never have confused my mate with the shifter standing in front of me. Because, underneath this alpha's primary aromas, I also picked up the barest hint of cold metal, like a gun barrel being pressed up against the side of my brow. And the glimpse of the visitor's wolf that I caught beneath the man's skin made my own lupine half bare her teeth in a silent snarl.
Shh, we're hunting, I warned my wolf, and she gave me that look that could have meant, Duh. How stupid do you think I am?
Or, perhaps, I thought with a shiver, my wolf is warning me not to hunt a hunter.
All of these thoughts flitted through my mind in the time it took for the stranger to turn around, and I caught my breath when I was finally able to make out his countenance. The shifter could almost have been Wolfie's twin, although this man's face was objectively just the tiniest bit more handsome than my mate's due to the stranger's perfect regularity of feature. On the other hand, I noticed that my visitor's muscles were a trifle less pronounced than Wolfie's, a failing that the stranger made up for with words carefully calculated to prompt any young female werewolf to swoon.
"I was looking for Chief Wilder," the stranger said, striding forward to take my hand in his. Rather than clasping our extremities into a shake, though, the alpha lifted my fingers to brush the lightest kiss possible across the back of my knuckles, making me shiver at the contact. My involuntary tremor was actually caused by a sudden and intense burst of repulsion, but I was glad to see the stranger's lips curling up into a smirk as he incorrectly diagnosed my emotion as attraction. Better that this visitor think of me as a weak and easily flattered female than that we end up in a battle similar to the one I'd endured just half an hour earlier.
The stranger paused to give my supposedly weak knees time to turn all the way to jelly, then he continued speaking. "But no matter who I was originally looking for, I certainly appreciate the current beautiful company while I wait for your..." he paused, "...father?"
This was my opportunity to tell the visitor that I was the new Chief Wilder and that he could discuss any business arrangements with me rather than waiting for my father's approval. I also wanted to step closer so the alpha could scent Wolfie's aroma on my skin, proving that I had been claimed by a much stronger werewolf than the one who had come into my pool house uninvited. Then I would have liked to have given the stranger a verbal slap for trespassing, finishing by sending the handsome-but-totally-unattractive alpha on his way.
But my father, unfortunately, was right. If I hoped to keep our clan under Wilder control during the upcoming All-Pack without risking bloodshed, then I needed to build alliances with as many of the other pack leaders as possible. And since I would inevitably be the smallest wolf present at the gathering in the physical department, those alliances would have to be wrangled in a more roundabout fashion than by leveraging the simple physical intimidation that my father used to get his way.
Which meant batting my eyelashes and flirting and hoping that I could tempt the other alphas to think with a piece of anatomy other than their brains. Because, while I certainly had no plans to break my mate bond with Wolfie regardless of how sticky All-Pack became, none of the other pack leaders needed to know that, now did they?
So, ignoring the annoyance of my wolf (who would have vastly preferred biting the stranger's head off both literally and figuratively), I pursed my lips into a pout and said, "Justin Young, you really don't remember me?"
***
I knew that I'd guessed the stranger's identity correctly when he tilted his head to one side, his gaze roaming slowly down the length of my body as he tried to place me within his own internal data banks. Unfortunately, as the alpha's eyes drifted south, my own attention was drawn back to the fact that I was still completely naked, and I forced my motions to appear coy instead of hurried as I slowly worked my legs into the panties waiting on a chair and then tossed a t-shirt over my head before donning a pair of jeans. I could have sighed in relief at finally placing a layer of fabric between myself and my visitor, but instead I just placed my hands on my hips saucily and waited for the stranger's reply.
"I would definitely remember you if we'd ever met before," Justin muttered at last, taking a step closer to peer down into my face. As he neared, my wolf overrode my best intentions to flirt, and she instead flashed up into my eyes dangerously, the barest hint of a growl emanating from our shared lips. Luckily, Justin took our growl as a flirtation rather than as a challenge and, raising his hand in mock surrender, the other alpha backed away and gave me the space to breathe once again.
"You were courting my sister at the last All-Pack that I attended," I reminded the stranger, keeping my voice light with an effort. I'd suspected from the moment when I first smelled this visitor's scent that the man in front of me was a relative of my mate's, and now his reaction to the name "Justin" proved his status as my least-favorite relative-in-law. It was hard to prevent Wolfie's secondhand memories from coloring my words now, since my mate had told me the tale of how the young bloodling he once was had been pushed out of his birth pack by his bullying older brother. My own memories of the alpha in front of me picked up a couple of years later, when the same bully had led along my older sister during our All-Pack gathering, then had broken her heart when he failed to contact the besotted teenager after the event ended.
For both of those wrongs, I would have gladly retaliated by scratching out Justin's eyes. But, instead, I just smiled and pretended not to be disgusted by this shifter who looked so much like Wolfie on the outside...but whose actions painted a very different picture of his internal landscape.
Luckily, I didn't have terribly long to consider my visitor's missteps, since my sentence had succeeded in jogging his memory of past events. "Your sister is Brooke the Beautiful, the one who got away," Justin responded at last, his eyes still tracing my curves as he slowly put two and two together. The alpha paused then, oblivious to my inner turmoil as he tried to remember the name of a young shifter who would have seemed inconsequential at the time, especially given the fact that Brooke herself had clearly been barely memorable. But my visitor's recall was keen, even if the nickname he came up with wasn't my favorite. "Which would make you Terra the Tomboy," he added at last, the alpha's smile so wide that it was obvious he expected to be roundly congratulated for remembering Brooke's kid sister's existence in the first place.
Justin the Jerk, I could have responded, tossing back the nickname that my sister and I had come up with once the handsome male now standing in front of me had dropped my sister flat. But, instead, I simply walked over to the refrigerator to pour myself a glass of iced tea, keeping my hands busy so they wouldn't clench into fists at my sides. Just a game, my wolf reminded me, and I relaxed slightly at her silent encouragement.
"But as much as I'd love to stay and chat with you all day, M
iss Terra," Justin continued while I was communing with my inner wolf, "I'm afraid I have pack business that really can't wait. Do you know when your father will be available to meet with me?"
As he spoke, the alpha reached out to take the glass of tea from my hand, expecting to be served with the arrogance of every other alpha male I'd ever met (my mate excluded). And even though I was trying to act like the submissive pack princess that I'd never been, I couldn't resist sliding the tumbler away from Justin's outstretched digits and tipping the cold beverage to my own lips instead. Because, while I might be forced to hold my nose and flirt with this male werewolf, I definitely wasn't going to become his servant.
"My father, I'm afraid, will be unavailable for the foreseeable future," I replied, after Justin had bowed his head in acknowledgment of my minor victory. "At All-Pack, I'll be taking care of Wilder business in his stead. So, I guess you actually came to speak with me."
***
"Unavailable?" My visitor's tone was confused and I couldn't resist the unkind thought that Justin not only lacked his brother's other positive traits, but that he was also missing Wolfie's acumen. My mate would have read between the lines in an instant, but the concept of a female pack leader was so alien to Justin's mindset that it took him a solid minute to wrap his mind around my words. Even once my statement seemed to be sinking in, my visitor's brow remained furrowed, so I elaborated.
"My father has opted to step down as leader of clan Wilder," I said, then took a deep breath and tossed out the lie that I hated to voice, but that I had come to accept as a necessary evil during my run home through the winter woods. "At the upcoming All-Pack, my father and I will be selecting a mate for me, someone who can help lead our clan into the future. And in the meantime, I'm the acting pack leader. If you like, you may call me Chief Wilder." Then, in an attempt to steer us back onto firmer ground, I asked, "Were you hoping to speak to my father about All-Pack planning?"
"About the location," Justin said absently, and for the first time since I'd come upon my uninvited guest in the pool house, I could see the other alpha's wolf rise up behind his eyes. Justin's lupine half had been notably absent during our earlier conversation, which was a good sign that my pack-princess charade had been at least moderately believable. But now the alpha's wolf was very visible as it attempted to sniff out any potential advantage that he might leverage from the Chief's absence from the upcoming gathering.
Justin is power hungry, my own lupine half warned as we waited for our visitor to reenter the conversation. Be careful.
Aren't they all? I thought back grimly, then returned my attention to my mate's brother. "The location will be here, of course," I told the other alpha, not waiting for his wolf to finish strategizing. "After all, Wilders have hosted All-Pack for as long as I can remember." The truth was that, even though the event was a serious hassle to manage, hosting All-Pack had also solidified my father's role as the unnamed head of our regional gathering. No way could I allow those hosting rights to slip through my fingers during my first attempt at standing in my father's shoes.
"But so many alphas underfoot might be too much for a young lady to handle," Justin countered quickly, his attempt to woo me clearly forgotten as the shifter instead chose to fill the power vacuum that my father had left behind. "Perhaps you'd prefer that we hold the event on Young land instead?"
No, I would not prefer giving this bully the status that hosting All-Pack would provide. But, instead of stating my opinion, I simply looked up at the visiting alpha between my lashes, aiming for enticing and hoping that I at least appeared weak enough to be dismissed as a potential threat. I abruptly wished that I'd paid more attention when my stepmother had schooled me and Brooke on the proper behavior of a pack princess. I wouldn't have run off into the woods and let my malleable older sister be the only one to learn the intricacies of flirting with visiting males if I'd known that eyelash-batting would be such an imperative skill for my future career.
"You know, my father wants me to mate with your brother," I said by way of reply once I could smell the arousal wafting off the werewolf in front of me. I had a feeling that it was time to pull out the big guns, and while sex appeal had worked in my favor initially, sibling rivalry might just be the true deciding factor in cementing my alliance with this unpleasant relative of my mate.
"My brother?" Justin demanded immediately, and I fought down the urge to grin. He'd taken the bait.
"Wolfie," I confirmed. "The Chief thinks that another bloodling would make a perfect replacement as leader of the Wilder pack. But now that I've met you, I wonder if perhaps you and I might not make a better match...."
I wanted to go on, to fully reel this alpha in, but it was tough to maintain my own feigned attraction. Instead, I resorted to maidenly modesty and lowered my eyes to the ground, hoping that Justin would decide it was worth his while to protect my hosting rights if he seemed likely to benefit from Wilder status in the future. Plus, what red-blooded werewolf male could resist trying to upstage his little brother?
And my visitor was sorely tempted, I could tell. But then Justin looked away from my downcast face and clenched his jaw. "I'm already mated," he said gruffly, then he reached down to raise my face with one finger beneath my chin. The gesture might even have seemed gentlemanly if my rampant wolf hadn't been able to discern that Justin's lupine half was snickering at my chagrin.
Despite my best attempt at maintaining a poker face, my cheeks turned red from embarrassment as I realized that I'd made a fool of myself. Great job, Terra, I berated myself. Use your womanly wiles to gain the support of an alpha who isn't even available. All-Pack had yet to begin and here I was flailing about wildly, making enemies instead of allies. Chief Wilder would not be impressed.
"My mate and I are separating, though," Justin continued as he took in my blush. From Wolfie, the words would have been meant to cheer me up, but my mate's dark brother instead seemed to be musing largely to himself. "She and I never were a good match. So perhaps...."
And as he spoke of casting off his current mate in favor of another woman, Justin's confidence sounded so very much like Wolfie's...so eerily familiar, and yet so much more malignant. I shivered, realizing that if I hadn't fled my home village as a teenager, I might easily have been forced to marry Justin in order to shore up my father's waning power. And while I was currently willing to feign consideration of this alpha's suit for the duration of a few short weeks, the idea of living with Justin for the rest of my life was unimaginable.
But I had started down this path, so I would have to continue using every tool I had at my disposal if I wanted to achieve my goal. A goal that currently consisted of ensuring that our regional gathering continued to be held on Wilder land. So, when I was finally able to get words out through my suddenly tight throat, I asked, "And the All-Pack location?"
"I'll consider it," Justin answered. Then, without a farewell, my mate's brother strode out the door and left me blissfully alone.
Chapter 3
"Pitiful," my father proclaimed, entering the pool house with twice the arrogance that I'd managed to muster in the face of the previously present alpha. "If that's the best you can do, then we might as well roll over and let them tear our throats out now."
I closed my eyes momentarily and took a deep breath, hoping to manage the stomach butterflies that had sprung up in response to today's back-to-back confrontations. Even when I was a teenager and totally under Chief Wilder's thumb, I'd usually managed to avoid speaking with my father more than once a day. Now, two dressing downs in one afternoon, with Wolfie's scary brother smack dab in the middle, was almost more than I could handle.
Not that I would allow the Chief to discern my weakness if I could help it. "Father, so good of you to drop by," I answered, sinking down onto the leather sofa that took up half of the entranceway, then doing my best to arrange my limbs so that I appeared relaxed. After all, it was better to sit down than to fall down, right? Then, continuing my show of nonchalance, I ya
wned widely...only to realize after the Chief's eyes glinted that such a gesture was often a sign of confusion among canines. Yep, I continued to lack the ability to fake out my father.
"Justin isn't the sharpest tack in the box," Chief Wilder continued, ignoring my greeting and getting right down to business. "And yet you couldn't even manage to bring him over to our side?"
My father's words were harsh, as usual, and I couldn't prevent my reply from sounding defensive. "I thought I did pretty well," I answered, feeling like a teenager again. But at least I was able to speak to my father this time around, rather than cowering at his feet the way I had when he ambushed me in the woods. That was progress, right? "Justin seemed interested in an alliance," I continued, only to be interrupted by my father's curt laughter.
"He's interested in anything in a skirt, girl. But Justin won't support your plan to remain host of All-Pack just because he thinks you'd be fun between the sheets. If I don't miss my guess—and I never do—the schemer is already working out the logistics of winning over five other pack leaders to his point of view. If you don't get a move on, the Youngs will have pulled hosting rights right out from under you." For a moment, the terrifying spark went out of my father's eyes, and he dropped down onto the other end of the sofa, suddenly looking like a tired old man instead of like the unquenchable alpha he usually appeared. "I never thought I'd see the day that Wilders would be guests at All-Pack," my father muttered, more to himself than to me.
"But Justin said that he'd consider supporting us," I answered, my hand reaching out to pat my father's shoulder sympathetically before my rational brain caught up with my emotions and yanked the offending appendage away. Old or not, the Chief wasn't one to be pitied, as his condescending snort proved.
"'I'll consider it'," my father mimicked, his voice sing-song. Then, dropping his tone back to its normal, deep register, the Chief continued: "Do you think I ever in my entire life allowed another alpha to walk through this door and leave without a solid agreement sealed with a handshake? Don't you know that an 'I'll consider it' is worse than useless in this business?"
Pack Princess: A Fantastical Werewolf Adventure (Wolf Rampant Book 2) Page 2
